Wheel covers for bicycle wheels are well known. Bicycle racers use wheel covers to improve aerodynamics thereby reducing drag. The covers used by racers are often made from light weight materials that are relatively expensive, fragile, difficult to install, and may interfere with brake efficiency. Film such as heat-shrinkable Mylar have been attached to wheel rims by an adhesive and then heated to tighten the film. The axially outward facing wheel rim surfaces that the film is glued to is also contacted by brake pads to decrease speed and stop. The film has a low coefficient of fiction that reduces brake effectiveness. The bake pads that contact the film may also tear the film and destroy the cover.
Special access openings in wheel covers for correcting tire pressure are required. These access openings degrade aerodynamics. Openings adjacent to a wheel rim also weaken the wheel covers and shorten their useful life.
Fabric and plastic materials have been used for bicycle wheel covers. Various hardware components are used to secure these flexible covers to wheels. One system employs ring members with member diameters that are slightly less than the wheel rim diameter. Rubber bands telescopically receive one of the two ring members when a joint in the ring is disconnected. Each of the rubber bands is then pulled through one of a plurality of slots in one wheel cover, between the wheel spokes, through a slot in a second wheel cover and then the second ring member is fed through the rubber bands sequentially. When the second ring member is threaded through all of the bands, and the ring joint is connected, the two wheel covers and the wheel spokes are clamped between the two ring members.
Plastic wheel covers that are relatively rigid have been centered on a wheel axle. A first screw pass through a first cover and screws into the first end of a sleeve positioned between two wheel spokes. A second screw passes through a second cover and screws into the second end of the sleeve positioned between the two wheel spokes. Three more identical sets of first screws sleeves and second screws are spaced around the periphery of the first and second screws. When all of the screws are tightened, the peripheries of the first and second wheel covers are clamped against the sides of the wheel rim and enclose the entire rim. Brakes with brake pads that engage the side of the wheel rim can not be used with these wheel covers.
Molded wheel covers with periphery flanges are known. Radially outward facing surfaces on the flanges engage the wheel rim adjacent to the spokes. Bolts pass through both covers and clamp them together. The heads of the bolts and the nuts are received in recesses in the wheel covers. Tools are required to mount and dismount these molded wheel covers. The outside diameter of the wheel covers corresponds to the radially inner diameter of the wheel rim. Rim design as well as tire size must be considered when making the wheel covers.